


The king's treasure

by lookslikepatricia



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: A prick tries to assault Yeosang, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Because he has the same name as Yunho, But I'm trying to not be so obvious about the plot, But they don't get mentioned by name, I'm Sorry, Jongho saves the day, Knight Jeong Yunho, M/M, Mentioned Pirate Captain Kim Hongjoong, Nothing Explicit Happens, Pirate Choi Jongho, Prince Kang Yeosang, Royal Adviser Park Seonghwa, TVXQ Yunho has a small part in this, The non-con warning is to be safe, The other boy's are his crew, Title and summary could be better, i love them a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:53:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26799139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookslikepatricia/pseuds/lookslikepatricia
Summary: For the first time in his life, royal crown prince Kang Yeosang goes to the tavern and sees a group of pirates. What happens next puts someone new in his life.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang
Comments: 3
Kudos: 65





	The king's treasure

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been sitting for a while and I finally decided to translate and post. Enjoy!

Yeosang had never been the type to cause trouble. He was calm, quiet, and serious like every crown prince should be. Being the royal family pride, he rarely did something bad or made a mistake. So nothing should justify him walking through the streets of his future kingdom capital wearing plebeian clothes, long after his curfew and on the taverns’ direction. Not even he knew why he was doing that.

As soon as he entered the establishment, he took the shabby hood out of his head under the yellowish light of scattered candles and smiled while noticing no one was paying attention to him. The prince walked to the bar and bought a pint of the cheapest mead they had. Since the royalty would only drink top-quality wine, he had always wanted to try that drink. Sitting in a table at the corner, where no one would try to interact with him, Yeosang started to sip his drink.

The sweet taste invaded his taste buds at the same time the burn of cheap alcohol went down his throat and he could finally understand why commoners enjoyed drinking it. It was a lot easier getting drunk like this than in the unending banquets he usually attended. While drinking slowly, Yeosang looked around seeing royal guards, which made him worry about getting recognized by the blond hair and wonder if he should put the cape’s hood back, merchants, sailors, working boys, and girls. Not wanting to cause a commotion, he tried not to stare at anyone, but then a particular group caught his attention. They were sitting at the opposite side of the tavern, all ragged looking, and exhaling danger. Definitely pirates.

Yeosang had always been fascinated by them. During his childhood, he would continuously ask his mother and maids for pirate stories and they would, as long it was as far as they were from the king’s ears. After he learned how to read, the prince developed the habit of spending hours at the royal library reading and researching about them. He knew a good amount of pirate legends and Yunho, his personal royal guard, and best friend, made fun of him for being the biggest specialist on the subject and, well, Yeosang couldn’t disagree. Seen, then, a group of them, consisting of five men, all mean looking and plaining their next loot, made him thrilled.

Even so, he didn’t keep an eye on them. After all, he had no idea what could happen if those pirates decided to mess with him. So he finished his drink, put back his hood, and left the tavern, not noticing a pair of eyes observing his every movement. The prince’s disguise, that he had crafted in every single detail in case someone tried to approach him, was of a traveler passing through the city and deciding to have a drink before continuing his long journey, made him follow the road that would take him to the walls that separated the city from the farming land that consisted as the rest of his family's properties, that would extend for miles and miles. There, he would take a secret passage to return to the palace, where he would be safe and sound, hopefully without anyone noticing his absence.

However, still in the tavern’s surroundings he heard footsteps behind him and felt sweat dripping down his back. He looked over his shoulder and saw one of the low-rank royal guards that had been inside the bar, stumbling over his feet but clearing following him. It was all he needed, being recognized and took back home like an insurgent child. Trying not to look, or feel, desperate, he walked faster until he could reach the commercial neighborhood of the kingdom, where the shops formed dark alleys. Yeosang decided to hide in one of those and wait for the guard to give up. So he pushed himself in the tight space between a bookstore and a bakery and hid in the shadows, attentive ears on what happened in the main road. Soon he heard hasty and fickle steps getting closer and then disappearing. He still waited a few minutes to make sure the guard had left only to get out of his hideout and face him.

“Trying to run away from me, love?” The man, who was very tall, strong, and was wearing Yeosang family’s coats of arms, said. From up close, he looked a lot less drunk than while walking and could be considered handsome, but the way he was lowering his head to get into the prince’s level, making the air impregnated by the smell of rum, and taking his hand to hold Yeosang’s chin made an alarm go off inside his head. “Without even a little kiss?”

“Why would I kiss you?” The prince retorted before his brain could even warn him that it would probably just anger the guard putting himself in greater danger than he already was in.

“I’ve seen your stares…” The man said back, finally holding Yeosang’s face with force.

“They were definitely not for you.” He gathered all the aristocratic arrogance he could and threw back, putting his hand on the guard’s muscled arm and pushing it away from him, taking the other by surprise. His only advantage at the moment was that the man would never guess how strong he actually was because of his slender and pacific appearance.

“Of course they were…” Getting over his shock, the guard turned suddenly, trapping Yeosang between his body and the front of the closed bookstore. “Only an outsider would look one of your majesty’s royal guards like you did, honey.” The man smirked dripping peril and holding the prince’s hips with a strong grip. “But I can forgive you for a few kisses. After all, you quite pretty, right, love?” He then lowered his voice even more and got closer to Yeosang’s ear, making him completely paralyzed. “Or maybe something more…”

“Hey, buddy…” A youthful masculine voice called out at the same time a strong hand appeared at the guard’s shoulder. The force being applied there was evident and the man trapping the prince turned to look at the young guy looking seriously at him. “I don’t think he is into you.”

“You think so?” The guard asked like he was spitting venom. “How would know? You know him?”

“No…” The guy answered provokingly, holding the shoulder with even more force. “But don’t you think he is too pretty to be into you?” 

Both looked at Yeosang’s terrified face, and the guard didn’t take long to let him go and turn to the other guy with violence, who only had time to whisper run to the prince before being throw to the ground by the other man. However, he only laughed and kicked the guard straight into his chest. The force was so grand, that the man lost his balance and felt butt flat on the floor. The young guy got up and hit the guard’s face with one of his knees, making the sound of broken bone fill the quiet night. The man touched his nose, that had been basically crushed and collapsed right there by the sight of blood dripping down his fingers. Bells started to resonate and far away, rushed steps accompanied by dog’s barks could be heard. The guy turned to the prince, who only gave him a small glance, and took him by the hand. They rushed onto the pier until thinking they were as far away they could be from the crime scene.

“Are you okay?” The guy asked Yeosang after they finally stopped, side by side, trying to recover their breaths.

“Yeah, you?” The prince asked him, still not believing everything that had happened that night.

“Just a little back pain, y’know? The impact was all there…” He answered, smiling mischievously, making Yeosang shyly smile back. Being now in an open area, the prince could observe the other better. The reddish hair, round eyes, prominent cheeks, and strong jaw. Very quickly he recognized the other as one of the pirates that he had tried to not stare.

“Do you think that guard is going to be alright?” He asked, worried while looking back. Yeosang never wanted people to get hurt because of him and the young pirate looked him, confused.

“Are you really worried about the guy who almost raped you?” The other asked him, exasperated.

“No… I just don’t want that guy to die…” The prince answered, lowering his head, embarrassed, but the young pirate giggled enthusiastically. It was a round laugh, just like his eyes and a bit of his gum appeared over his teeth, making something inside Yeosang warm up.

“No one dies from a nosebleed. And they must have found him quite quickly. The other guards, I mean….” The pirate laughed again and the prince did the same, quietly, not noticing the other’s eyes softly on him. “I’m Jongho, by the way.” He said, as soon as their laugh died a little.

“Yeosang…” The prince said back, knowing that without the royal clothes and last name, no one would connect him to crown prince Kang Yeosang.

“Well, Yeosang…” Jongho said, making his name dance around his lips. “It was great meeting and saving you from that creepy royal guard. See you around?” There was a tip of hope in the young pirate’s voice while making the question.

“Who knows,” The prince answered, smiling and the other did the same before walking away from the pier, waving goodbye. “Jongho,” Yeosang observed the young pirate disappear and then went straight to the palace, not caring much if he got or not caught. He ended up walking around the kingdom’s empty streets peacefully and, with a bit more care, got home avoiding the guards and servants that still have duties to fulfill. His mind, however, was completely taken by the pirate he had met.

The next day, the prince got late for his first duty of the day, that was eating breakfast with the king and queen, and got scolded by his father. He sat down on his place at the table, between the king and his advisor in training, Seonghwa, and ate in silence not paying attention to his parents’ conversation, still lost in thought at what had happened the night before, until he heard a guard had been found hurt around the pier area.

“Is he okay?” The prince asked, scared anyone could track him to the incident.

“He is…” Seonghwa asked in his usual formal tone but hiding his surprise. “He was found passed out and with a broken nose. Probably fell face down on the ground by how drunk he was.”

“Seonghwa…” The king called him out and he realized he had passed the limits. “This is not how we talk about the commoners, and especially you, who is one of them.”

“My apologies, your majesty.” He answered, lowering his head in shame. There were two things the young man hated the most. The first was being inappropriate. The second was being scolded. Yeosang pitied him, giving him a small and affectionate touch on his elbow and Seonghwa looked at him, head still low. The prince whispered that everything was okay with a shy smile, that was returned by the advisor.

The breakfast ended without any more incidents and the two young men walked in silence through the corridors in the direction of the prince’s rooms. Yeosang knew Seonghwa since birth, as the other was just a year older than him and the grandson of the palace old librarian. They had spent their childhood playing and reading together, the advisor becoming slowly the prince's older brother he had never had. When Seonghwa started his studies, he showed great ability to gather knowledge and leadership, so the king decided to make him Yeosang’s future advisor. They then started to train together in order to rule the kingdom, which only made them grow closer.

“Since when you care about low-rank guards getting into fights?” The oldest asked as they entered Yeosang’s bedroom and the younger threw himself into bed.

“It seemed like a fight for his honor...” He answered, looking at the ceiling and not seeing Seonghwa’s suspicious expression, who decided to corner the younger.

“Would you mind telling me where did you go last night?” The prince sat down at once, scared.

“I was here last night…” Yeosang said, avoiding Seonhwa’s eyes.

“Really?” The advisor asked, crossing his arms and raising one eyebrow. The prince sighed, defeated.

“How do you know I went out?”

“It’s not because you tricked the whole castle pretending that you were tired and wanted to go early to bed that you would trick me, Yeosang,” Seonghwa said, pretending to be annoyed, making the prince whine. He then gave into a discrete chuckle and got closer to Yeosang, sitting in front of him on the bed. “I’m joking around…” He laughed openly this time and the other hit his arm, annoyed. “I came over last night to show you a book I found your door was locked.” Seonghwa raised his eyebrow again. “You never lock your door, Sangie.”

“Did anyone else noticed?” The prince asked, worried again.

“Of course not…” The advisor smiled to calm him down. “No one would suspect you, the quiet and shy royal prince who never does anything wrong.”

Yeosang breathed relieved. If anyone could know about his small rebellious act the night before, that person was Seonghwa. He, sometimes, could be a pain in the ass with all his earnest, propriety, and cleaning whim. But the advisor was also trustworthy and affectionate, and the prince knew that his nagging came from a place of care for him and the kingdom. And the only other person Yeosang trusted as much as Seonghwa was Yunho, who was the embodiment of a human golden retriever by how honest and reliable he was. They had also met during their childhood, and, being the same age, quickly became friends. The knight was the son of one of the most prestigious noble families in the kingdom and his father was one of the king’s closest friends, so Yeosang and Yunho’s friendship was a giving. The other being a lot more sociable and talkative than the prince, balanced his friend’s personality and at each visit from the noble family, Yeosang’s laugh got louder and louder around the castle. Seen how close the two noble boys had become the king and Yunho’s father decided to make Yunho the prince’s personal guard and knighted him as soon as he completed his training.

“But tell me, what did you do?” The advisor started to press Yeosang, dying of curiosity when they heard urgent knocks at the door.

“Yunho?” Seonghwa said as soon as he opened the door, seeing the knight in full armor. “What happened?”

“The caste is under attack. I came to protect the prince.”

The oldest let Yunho in and locked the door. The knight waved at Yeosang, smiling before taking the guard position in front of the door. Seonghwa walked again to the bed and took one of the many wooden chests there were under it. Quickly opening it, he took the prince’s sword and bow of it, with a few arrows, giving the first weapon to Yeosang. They both had trained in both arts, but the advisor would always feel a lot more comfortable with a bow on his hands than with a sword. The three young men waited in silence, ready to defend themselves if necessary. However, less than fifteen minutes later a few knocks on the door were heard again and Yunho got closer to it, still in the guard position. He asked a question in code and the answer came in the same way, which made the knight breath, relieved. He opened the door, revealing the captain of the royal guards, who was Yunho’s childhood hero and had the same name as Yeosang’s friend.

“The palace has been secured.” The older man told Yunho. “A group of pirates used the old secret passage on the city’s inner wall to invade one of the underground’s vaults.” The younger knight nodded in understanding. “Is possible they had inside information, so we are interrogating the servants.” He then turned to the prince and his advisor. “Your highness, your father asked me to call you and your advisor to the throne room. We managed to capture one of the pirates and your majesty wants that both of you are present during his interrogation and judgment.”

“And what are my orders, captain?” Yunho asked, trying to contain his excitement. As the personal guard of the prince, he seldom saw any of the action.

“You should escort the prince and his advisor, Yunho.” The older knight smiled affectionately to the younger. “To guarantee their safety.”

“Yes, sir!” He raised his voice, making the captain laugh while leaving.

The three young men left Yeosang’s quarters with Yunho in the front of the other two, walking all over the corridor like that alone would make any invader give up on harming any of them. The prince tried not to laugh while Seonghwa nagged him to walk properly, which made the knight’s enthusiasm fade away. The older breathed deeply and bit his lower lip, repressing himself from taking pity on Yunho. Still, the younger’s reaction, with sunken shoulders and sad look melted Seongha’s heart and he told the knight he could walk as he pleased, making the other gain the tripe of the excitement he had before. They got quickly to the throne room, where the king was already seated at the throne, with his wife standing by his right. Yeosang hurried to stand at his place, by the king’s left side and Seonghwa stoped a bit behind him as protocol determined. Yunho stopped at the left side of the room, facing Bora, the royal couple’s personal guard. In front of them and surrounded by two other guards, a young guy was kneeling on the floor with his hands locked by heavy iron shackles.

“Pirate.” The king called, loud voice resonating through the room. The young guy raised his head and Yeosang made a big effort to not react while looking at Jongho’s round eyes. “Is it true you and your gang tried to steal a royal vault and take the treasures it contained?”

“Yes, it is.” The pirate answered, seriously.

“Do you, then, understand the gravity of your actions?” The king asked in the same tone and a small mocking smile appeared on the prisoner's lips.

“Not really…” He answered again, but this time in a tone completely different than before. There was a clear sarcasm in his voice and he looked at each one of the faces surrounding him in the room. It was a challenging look and the pirate took his time to make sure the royal family understood that. His round eyes, however, only wavered a bit when looking at the prince, but no other sign of recognition was given. Seonghwa released an impatient huff behind Yeosang.

“You don’t?” The king asked, losing his composture as anger started to come over him.

“No,” Jongho said, firm. “What’s the problem of taking some jewelry of one of the many vaults a random king has while all these people in his kingdom are starving? It’s not like it was the nice royal crown said king would wear every day just to show who is in charge, right?” Every single one of the guards inside of the room moved and surrounded the prisoner at the mention of the royal crown, raising their swords because of the disrespect the young pirate had shown to their king, who had gotten up from his throne, wrathfully. The queen rushed to him, putting a warning hand on his shoulder and her husband turned to her, confused, sitting back down after seeing her determined look. She made a small gesture and the guards went back to their original positions, putting the swords down.

“What is the name of your captain, boy?” She addressed the prisoner, voice firm but righteous.

“Kim Hongjoong, madam.” The young pirate answered serious tone back and surprising everyone by his sudden formality. Yeosang, however, was the only one who noticed the small smile that flashed over Jongho’s lips, like it had been directed specifically for him.

“It’s him, isn't it, Seonghwa?” The queen turned to the young man behind the prince, who only nodded.

“Who, my queen?” The king asked her, even more, confused than before.

“The pirate we heard about a few weeks ago. The one that only steals from nobles and royals to give to the poor.” The queen exchanged a quick look with her son, both smiling compliantly. The prince had been the one who had first heard about legendary Capitain Hongjoong and his small crew. He just couldn’t believe that he had seen them in person.

“Well, that doesn’t matter…” The king started, rigid. “Stealing from royalty is a grave crime condemned by death according to our laws.” For the first time that morning, something like fear went through the young pirate’s face, and knowing his father, as well as Yeosang, did, he knew he was the only one who could save Jongho now.

“Father…” The prince called, getting closer to the king, voice even smaller than usual. In normal circumstances, he would never have dared to interrupt a judgment, but if he didn't speak up now the prisoner would be sentenced to death. His father looked at him, taken completely aback. “Can I talk to you before the sentence? It shouldn't take much time.”

That request had never happened before, both in or outside royal duties. Yeosang rarely talked to his father unless he was spoken to first, so his parents exchanged shocked looks from the situation. Curious, the king dismissed the guards who left quickly, taking Jongho with them. Seonghwa and the queen also left and his father waited for Yeosang to speak with a patience he didn’t know he possessed. The confession of the prince’s small escapade to go to the tavern was heard with a mix of surprise and misplaced pride by the king until the point where he had to hear about what one of his royal guards had tried to do to his precious son. A sensation of disgust and hatred grew in his stomach and how shocked he had become while listening that the same pirate who tried to steal from them also saved the prince from such a dreadful experience, without even knowing who he was. 

Yeosang was incredibly red from shame from admitting everything to the king, but that was the only way he had to appeal to his father's mercy for the young pirate. The king dismissed him too, saying that he had to think about the subject and gave him an extremely small scolding for leaving the palace safety alone at night. He also hugged his son and looked at the prince's beautiful face, relieved that nothing bad had happened to him during his short misbehave. If Yeosang only knew how much the king had messed around when he was his age, he wouldn’t feel so ashamed by a simple visit to the tavern.

“So?!” Seonghwa asked him, as soon as the prince left the throne room. He was with the queen and, Yeosang, already very tired by all the events of the morning, gave them a shortened version of the story he had told the king. His mother, exasperated, gave the prince a handful before going back to the throne room, leaving the two young men alone. “I can’t believe you went alone. You should have taken me or Yunho with you. Those kinds of places can be dangerous.”

“I noticed…”

The prince laughed without any humor and the older involved him in a hug, that didn’t last long. An awkward silence fell around them while they stayed at the room’s door until being called back. The same positions from before were taken but Yunho’s posture caught Yeosang’s attention. Before, he had been the same neutral expressions all guards should have during judgments, but now he looked at the prisoner with almost pity and, and because the prince knew the knight so well, he was sure his friend had become attached to the young pirate by just a small exchange of words. The king, then, pronounced his sentence. Jongho wouldn’t be condemned to death for his services to the royal crown but he would also not be allowed back to his crew. He would be restricted to the royal palace, where he would be trained as a royal guard, and if and only if he stood out from his peers, he would be allowed his freedom again. He should also become Yeosang’s second personal guard, after Yunho. He then dismissed all the other guards and gave the prince the keys to the prisoners’ shackles. The young man took no time to free the young pirate and both king and queen thanked him for saving his son the night before. Her majesty also told him they would consider giving the royal forgiveness to Hongjoong and the rest of their crew if they accepted to come over to the palace to find a way of helping people from inside of the law.

“I told you everything would work out at the end, Jongho…” Yunho told the young pirate as soon as they left the throne room. The knight had been put in charge of overlooking the younger training and keep an eye on him. They started to put some distance from Yeosang and Seonghwa and Jongho could only whisper a small thanks to the prince before leaving, who observed them getting away in silence. Yunho was going to escort the other back to the pirate ship to give the crew the royal family’s message.

“What you did was very noble, Sangie. I’m proud of you…” The advisor said as they walked back to the prince’s rooms. “And you don’t need to look like a lost puppy. You’re going to see that pirate around a lot.” Yeosang blushed over Seonghwa’s words and left first trying to understand why his heart was beating so fast that it felt like it wanted to leave his body.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and welcome to my absolute soft spot for Yeosang and Jongho. They are literally the cutest ship.  
> This originally was a request from a friend and she kindly let me post a version with Jongho as the pirate, so that everyone can have fun reading about a shy prince getting saved by a nice and somewhat sassy pirate.  
> Hope everyone had fun reading and every kudos or comment is welcomed.
> 
> I'm lowkey reclusive in social media, but you can find me at [@lookspatricia](https://twitter.com/lookspatricia) and [lookslikepatricia](https://lookslikepatricia.tumblr.com/).


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